‘The Roaring Twenties’ was a time of change, a boom for economy and unprecedented prosperity. The decade following the First World War had it all. It was a decade where transport, technology, communication and entertainment grew. It was also a time when women had more liberation. However, the label ‘The Roaring Twenties’ is only appropriate to some certain extent.
Not everyone benefited from the boom, this included African Americans, farmers, migrants and those employed in old industries. Prohibition attracted organized crime and corruption. This proved that life wasn’t perfect for every American during the Roaring Twenties. One of the reasons why the decade following the First World War is referred to the ‘Roaring Twenties’ was because of the improvement of transport.
The 1920 s was a decade of mass production and the development of the automobile revolutionise d the petroleum, steel and rubber industries. Automobiles changed the American way of life. People moved further from the crowed cities because now, they could drive to work. This lead to a development of more suburbs, streets and highways. New job opportunities were opened for the assembly line, road construction and highways. American social lives changed because they were able to attend leisure activities.
The automobile gave more Americans (especially young people) more freedom. The truck industry also started to grow. More industries started to develop because they were able to transport and trade more goods. The development of buses also increased which allowed more Americans to travel and have more leisure and entertainment. Aircrafts suited for passengers also allowed Americans to travel. Technological and communication advances played a major role in the decade where Americans improved their lives thus the name ‘Roaring Twenties’ is given for the 1920 s.
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Access to electricity became more common. In 1919, only one third of American homes had electricity, by 1929, that figure had climbed to two thirds (1).
Electricity helped managed homes and businesses much easier and led for new and innovative products to enter the market. Appliances became more common as people could purchase them on credit and they promised consumers more time to leisure activities (2).
Appliances eased the amount of housework and this gave people an opportunity to go out for leisure and entertainment. Communication also increased and this allowed for Americans to socialise more and get current news straight away. During the 1920 s, the number of homes with phones increased from 9 million to 13 million (3).
Also in this decade, the building industry grew immensely, since electricity was present. With the new industries and the prosperity in America, confidence rose and some companies demonstrated this by portraying their power and wealth with their new and taller buildings. Another reason why the ‘Roaring Twenties’ was an appropriate label for the decade after World War One was the increase of entertainment and leisure.
The 1920 s was also a decade of prosperity and there was an increase in leisure time. Americans socialise d more, became influenced by radio and went to dancehalls and cinemas more regularly. Radio provided people a source of entertainment they could share. By 1930, forty percent of all homes in the USA had a radio set (4).
Since people had more leisure time and desired for escape and entertainment they went to the cinemas.
By 1929, ten million people were going to the cinema each week (5).
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Cinema became popular because it was cheap. Dancing and music also became more popular and many young people went to dancehalls daily. This decade was also known as the Jazz Age and this type of music made its way to radio, becoming more popular than ever. All these entertainment and leisure activities turned the decade around. Americans enjoyed socialising and it helped people put the hardships of war behind them.
Women’s lifestyles changed immensely and this attributed to the reason why the label the ‘Roaring Twenties’ was given in the 1920 s. The roles of women were changing after World War One ended. One fundamental change was that women gained the right to vote in 1920. This meant they could have their own say and from there, more political power.
During World War One, women had worked in areas where only men had worked. This encouraged them to search for more jobs. By the end of the decade there were over 10 million women in paid employment- a 25 percent increase in 1920 (6).
Women’s college enrolment arrived the same decade and women were able to get professions in teaching, social work and nursing. Due to the appliances which saved time, women had more time to go out and attend cinemas, dance halls and clubs. Advertising was aimed at young women and magazines and radio influenced women during that decade.
Young women dressed in a fashion that outraged their mothers, they were known as flappers. Flapper was a name given to a liberated women (7) and they took advantage of their newly fond freedom. It was a decade where women’s expectations changed. They were plotted now as having more political power and more freedom and opportunity.
On the other hand, the ‘Roaring Twenties’, the name given to the decade after the First World War only comes to an extent. Besides being a decade of prosperity, corruption increased and organized crime became well known. Organized crime came about after Prohibition was passed out in 1919. This was the ban of alcohol but it was merely an encouragement for wild partying where alcohol flowed freely (8) and crime. Gangsters who disobeyed Prohibition laws controlled America’s underworld during the decade. Al Capone was a very notorious figure and was the king of beer barons.
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1. The most important historical event that occurred between 1492 and 1865 was the American Civil War. Sparked by issues such as states’ rights and the many aspects of slavery, it was a four-year war in which the country split in two and fought against each other for principles each side strongly believed in. The importance of this particular war in American history cannot be emphasized enough. ...
He operated distilleries, breweries and a number of speakeasies. Bootlegging also became quite popular. Al Capone was responsible for 500 murders, those whom most of them tried to cut his illegal alcohol operations. Overall, prohibition was a failure because of profits, problems of enforcement, corruption and or course, organised crime. Marginalised groups did not reflect a boom at all, supporting the reason that the ‘Roaring Twenties’ is a name given to the 1920 s only to some extent. Despite the boom, America was a divided society.
It was only the rich and some middle class families who benefited during the decade following the war. Some families became even poorer during the 1920 s. In 1928, the number of people living below the poverty line, increased to an estimated 42 percent of the American population (9).
Many farmers became bankrupted shortly after the war.
Between 1920 and 1930 the number of farmers declined for the first time in American history (10).
Farming families were evicted or had to sell their property to get out of debt. Some left to look for work in California while others had nothing left at all. New immigrants faced resentment and took any jobs because they weren’t highly educated. The majority of them lived in grim big city neighbourhoods and worked in sweatshops at low wages. People who worked in old industries also didn’t prosper.
New products were replacing raw materials which resulted for old industries to lower wages, drop safety standards and even close several industries. African Americans were also amongst the marginalised groups. In the South, economic conditions had changed little since slavery. Three quarters of a million black farm workers lost their job during the 1920 s (11).
Those who moved to the north to seek employment suffered discrimination with low wages and were threatened by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. They were a group of people who fought for native white, Protestant supremacy (12).
They terrorized certain groups of people such as African Americans during the decade. In conclusion, the decade following the First World War was referred to as ‘The Roaring Twenties’ because it impacted American society in a positive way. There was exceptional prosperity and the growth in economy which resulted in significant change. Yet, not all saw it as a boom. Despite the leisure high class and some middle class people had, there was suffering for farmers, immigrants, African Americans and people who worked in old industries. There was also a presence of corruption and organized crime.
The Essay on Causes Of Mexican American War
2. Their were several events which led to the start of the Mexican-American War an there were also many things that happened as a result of the War. American belief of Manifest Destiny was a major factor in the cause of the war, Land hungry Americans were ready to do whatever it took to acquire more land to make themselves rich. This belief in Manifest Destiny caused Mexico and America to go to ...
Clearly, the boom in America didn’t mean it happened to everyone. Footnotes (1) R. Conrad Stein, The Roaring Twenties, Children’s Pre Inc. , Canada, 1994 (2) web > (3) Nash. G, The American People, HarperCollins Publishers, 1990 (4) Feihn. T, The USA Between the Wars, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
, London, 1998 (5) Campbell. I, The USA 1917-1941, Cambridge University Press, UK, 1998 6) (R) (10) Feihn. T, The USA Between the Wars, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. , London, 1998 (11) (12) Feihn. T, The USA Between the Wars, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
, London, 1998.
